The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest U.S. pension fund, with an investment portfolio valued at $239.9 billion , is an early investor in alternatives compared with its peers. It began investing in hedge funds in April 2002, and has been investing with emerging managers (EMs) in various asset classes, directly and through fund of funds, for more than 20 years. In 1991, CalPERS initiated an effort to retain EMs in underserved sectors of the U.S., and in March 2000, the fund implemented the first formal EM program. Between 2000 and 2009, CalPERS launched multiple EM programs, and since 2010, it has made $900 million in new commitments to emerging managers.

As of June 30, 2011, CalPERS had almost $10 billion, representing 12% of its total externally managed NAV, invested with more than 300 EM investment firms.

CalPERS will be hosting a workshop on December 3, 2012 for emerging managers seeking to become investment partners with the Pension Fund.

"We have heard loud and clear from the emerging manager community that we can do a better job with our external outreach," said Joe Dear, CalPERS' CIO, in the announcement. "As we've detailed in our Emerging Manager Five-Year Plan, we will increase our communication, marketing and networking with the emerging manager industry and this workshop is a continuation of our work to that end."

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.